Almost half of the respondent in a recent poll by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life say that the declining influence of religion in Americans’ lives is bad for the country, but more quite 40 percent say it doesn’t matter.
Michael O’Malley of the Cleveland Plain Dealer asked a few clergy in his area what they made of these numbers.
“This is the fault of organized religion,” said the Rev. Tracey Lind, dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland. “We have no one to blame but ourselves. We need to wake up and ask ourselves some very hard questions about why people are moving away from organized religion and what value do we offer American society.”
Do you agree that religious organizations are losing influence in American life? If you agree, why do you think this is happening?